Ukrainians cede land on eastern front, but hold on to hope

A war of attrition, by definition, tests resilience. Yet even as Ukrainian fighters bow to Russian artillery in the east, they cling to hope that arriving Western arms will help them turn the tide.

Russian troops were already swarming the Donbas city of Severodonetsk when the few remaining Ukrainian defenders received the order to withdraw, to save their lives.

Relentless Russian bombardment – estimated by Ukrainian officials to have reached astonishing peaks of 50,000 or more Russian shells a day across the region – had already destroyed the only three bridge...